Flocking to Rome: Canadians join mourners paying respects to Pope Francis

Faithful pay their respects to Pope Francis inside St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, April 23, 2025, where his body will lie in state for three days. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

VATICAN CITY — A small Canadian flag flew at St. Peter’s Square as a tour group made its way through the massive crowd of mourners gathering to honour the memory of Pope Francis.

Members of the Holy Spirit Parish in Stittsville, Ont., had planned this trip to Rome for the Catholic Church’s Jubilee year, a special holy year focused on pilgrimage and reflection. But their travels took on new meaning.

“We are now focusing our pilgrimage on the Pope,” said Louise Beggs. “We hope to line up and pay our respects to someone we loved and admired.”

The Canadians joined hours’ long lines for a few seconds in front of the simple wooden coffin of Pope Francis. In his testament, he insisted that his tomb be in the ground, not placed above others.

“We worked along with the Pope so he could carry out his unique mission,” added Beggs. “We hope that what he did will continue with the next Pope.”

As Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet passed by journalists, he praised the pontiff’s “humility, bravery and missionary spirit.”

But in the crowd of onlookers at St. Peter’s Square, some say that under Francis’ leadership, too little had moved forward.

“The Church changes very slowly,” said Don Ackerman, originally from Saskatchewan, who said he grew up Catholic. “It’s perhaps too much to ask of one man.”

In the lineups that extended well into the night, some were reciting prayers. Brandon Figueroa is a missionary in Bulgaria, who grew up in Guatemala.

“It is great to say goodbye, and see you later Pope Francis, because I learned so much from him,” he said.

Many hope to return to St. Peter’s Square for the funeral Saturday, when world leaders will gather to pay their respects to a Pope who preferred to focus on those at the margins of society, particularly the poor.

“The world lost a great guy,” said Mike Langdon, another member of the Holy Spirit Parish from Ontario.